Unfortunately, some InterNations members have had to experience the negative sides of expat life recently as both locals and expats in Australia, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt and Tunisia saw their daily lives affected by natural disaster or major political unrest. Luckily, the worst seems to be over in many places, and we hope that none of our members, their family or friends came to personal harm! Our local Ambassadors did their best to keep us informed about the situation and how it affected their communities, so here are a few of the impressions we collected over the past few weeks.

In Egypt, the population is demanding social and political reforms. The situation on the streets escalated in the face of President Mubarak’s refusal to step down. The 1 pm to 8 am curfew which has been imposed on the whole country is rarely observed by local protestors. Just today, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians are gathering on Cairo’s Tharir Square for a protest march which has so far remained peaceful. Internet access in Egypt has been blocked and mobile phone networks experience service disruptions. No attacks on foreigners have been reported, but our Ambassadors in Cairo decided to cancel the InterNations January event in response to the general threat and out of respect for the local population.

Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution” has borne fruit. Ex-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has fled the country and a new cabinet has been formed. Despite calls for his resignation, the long-serving PM Mohammed Ghannouchi is still in office and preparing the country for new elections. While InterNations members in Tunis also had to re-organise their lives around violent protests and curfews, the situation seems to have calmed down now and we hope to receive more good news from our local Ambassador soon.

The ongoing crisis in Côte d’Ivoire is a serious cause for concern for all people in the area. Growing international pressure on Laurent Gbagbo to accept his election defeat and hand the presidency over to Alassane Ouattara has so far not managed to significantly improve the situation. However, our Ambassadors in Abidjan decided to carry on in the face of adversity and organised a small January Get-Together. The one year anniversary event of our Abidjan community is already scheduled for 11 February, and attendees are in for a special treat: After two months in the post, our InterNations banner has finally found its way to Abidjan and is here proudly presented by our two Ambassadors.

Just when the worst seemed to be over for our members in and around Brisbane, Australia’s worst floods in centuries hit Victoria. And as if the floods weren’t enough trouble in themselves, sightings of sharks swimming up the streets of Brisbane and Goodna in Queensland gave more cause for concern. The search for bodies of flood victims continues, and clearing up and reconstruction works are expected to go on for many months. We wish everyone out there perseverance and good luck!

Special thanks to Axel Becker for taking the photos and for his support in organzing this event.

To see more pictures of this event, please visit the InterNations photo album.

Special thanks to our InterNations Ambassador Gerald Ganglbauer and the InterNations member Axel Becker for taking the photos.

To see more pictures of the Sydney Get-Together please go to the Event Calendar.

If you want to read more about the event please see the article in the CITY NEWS (Print edition: Issue 150, 19 February 2009), the Online edition, SBS Radio 97.7FM in Sydney (On air: 1 March 2009, 8 pm (German)) or the Podcast.

(Thank you to Gerald Ganglbauer, for playing the host and for providing us with all these snapshots from last night!)

The InterNations drinks hosted by Sydney Ambassador Gerald Ganglbauer have become a regular feature of the local expat scene, and the latest Get-Together particularly delighted the guests with its carefree and relaxed mood. Both newcomers and familiar attendees from Britain, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Brazil, Switzerland, Singapore, the USA and Canada enjoyed the venue — the bar of the Albion Place Hotel, as usual — for its comfy lounge, the savoury food and the vivacious salsa music that even drove a few couples onto the dance-floor…

(Thanks to Gerald for sharing his photos! More of them coming to this gallery soon…)

With so many cities around the world inviting to casual Get-Togethers, it was high time for the Melbournian Community to meet in ‘real life’ as well. On the night of Thursday, November 6, Audrey Orielle Liwidjaja-Ly, the new local InterNations Ambassador, gathered them to get to know each other better, catch up after work and count down the time until the upcoming week-end.

They held the meeting in the back area of the chic Locanda Cucina Bar — the city’s premium location for all Italophiles — , which was quite secluded and thus ideal for them to mingle. The expats mainly came from Germany (they all shared a laugh at the coincidence that almost every man in the room turned out to be German), but also from the USA, Canada, Indonesia, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand, India, Turkey, the Netherlands and Macedonia. A few people from Melbourne and Sydney, who had lived abroad for a while and fondly remembered their time as expatriates, participated as well.

Everybody was at ease and ‘clicked’ with each other soon. Despite their different backgrounds and experiences, which made for interesting conversational topics, it turned out that some of the guests had more in common than just sharing Melbourne as their (new) home — they would come from the same country, share the same clients or live in the same neighbourhood: This broke the ice very quickly, and it didn’t take long for everyone to start exchanging tips on places to go or on business opportunities in Australia.

Judging from the feedback Audrey received, the members had a great time and are looking forward to the Melbourne Get-Together becoming a monthly occasion. The next event is probably going to be a true Aussie-style barbecue in one of Melbourne’s parks

(You can find all the photos from the event here.)

Although our Sydney Ambassador Gerald Ganglbauer had returned to his native country of Austria for the month of September, the regular InterNations event on Wednesday, September 24 could go ahead as scheduled. Our member Axel Becker was kind enough to stand in for Gerald and host a casual Get-Together with a round of drinks at the lounge bar of the Albion Place Hotel. Of course, the expats from Germany, Brazil, South Africa, France, Great Britain, Austria and other nations came up with a toast on Gerald – who will be back in October – and drank a Bavarian ‚Weissbier‘ in his honour. Prost!

(A big ‘thank you’ for all your efforts as well as the pictures, Axel!)